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The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7235 p178
8 February 2003

Boots / Sainsbury’s end “store within a store” collaboration

Boots and Sainsbury's are to end their "store within a store" trial, which has been operating in nine Sainsbury's stores since October 2001 (PJ, 28 July 2001, p110). The scheme involved Boots supplying the entire health, beauty and pharmacy product range in the trial stores. The two companies say that they "cannot agree on commercial terms for roll-out".

When the scheme started, Boots said it would enable it to reach out-of-town shoppers quickly and cost-effectively. Boots says it will now concentrate on increasing the number of its own out-of-town stores, with plans to double edge-of-town representation over the next three years. Steve Russell, chief executive of the Boots Co Plc, said: "With the lessons from our own stores and the new format developed for the trial with Sainsbury's, we are able to access more edge-of-town sites with better economics. We will implement this opportunity effectively and quickly."

During the past year, Sainsbury's successfully ran trials of its own health and beauty range in five stores, and now plans to extend this range to include new own-label products and international brands.

Boots factory to close Boots Contract Manufacturing has announced plans to close its Airdrie, Lanarkshire, site where 1,000 people are employed as part of a review of its manufacturing operations. If the closure goes ahead, it will happen over the next two years with redeployment of staff to other Boots sites where possible. Products manufactured at Airdrie include No7 and 17 cosmetics, and Soltan suncreams. The factory opened in 1949.